October 10, 2006

Nice hat

62 Comments

Dear Anousheh
Welcome to your second home,

A short story: How do dreams come true

Once there was a man who asked God for
a flower….
….and a butterfly.
But instead God gave him a cactus….
….and a caterpillar.
The man was sad, he didn’t understand why his request was mistaken.
Then he thought:
Oh well, God has too many people to care for…
And decided not to question.
After some time, the man went to check up on his request that he had left forgotten.
To his surprise, from the thorny & ugly cactus a beautiful flower had grown.
And the unsightly carterpillar had been transformed into the most beautiful butterfly.
GOD always does things right!
His way is ALWAYS the best way,
even if to us it seems all wrong.
If you asked God for one thing & received another, TRUST.
You can be sure that He will always give you what you need at the appropriate time.
What you want…
….is not always what you need!
God never fails to grant our petitions, so keep on going for Him without doubting or murmuring.
Today’s THORN…
Is tomorrow’s FLOWER!
GOD GIVES THE VERY BEST TO THOSE WHO LEAVE THE CHOICES UP TO HIM!
If you liked this message, please send it on to others.
GOD BLESS YOU!

First of all I want to congratulate you for your courage, stamina, decision, and the wonderful opportunity you’ve got to go into Space.You have made your dream come true!

Space has been my passion since I began writing as a professional journalist in my native country, Uruguay.

I am here now living in the United States, since on July 12 of 1989 I began working at the Voice of America. I ran a weekly program of my creation named “Toward Space”.

Along the years I have interviewed a good number of Astronauts, engineers and technicians. Recently, on September 26 and 27 I have the opportunity to make a visit to the Johnson Space Center where I was able to be where few people can go. Of all that material we are now at VOA preparing 3 or 4 documentary presentations for TV. I have also started to put on the air by radio, my interviews with Astronauts there.

When I returned from J.S.C. my feeling was that I have been at the home of the Astronauts and a gate to Space, but… I have not being in the Space –like you, my dream.

I have not 20 millions dollars, but…I have a specific proposal to you. And I am talking about business, after all.
When Mr. Burt Rutan donated the SpaceShipOne to the National Air & Space Museum, I covered that event and I interviewed Rutan. I gave him my business card and on the reverse I wrote that I was ready to go to Space and to broadcast from there that experience.

I know he is working on the SpaceShipTwo that will be able to take to space groups of tourists.

I have kept in contact with his company, but nevertheless I think you could be extremely influencial to make it possible for me to be there in the first flight of SpaceShipTwo. What I can record there, the broadcasting that I could do, all that material could be useful for a later book or lectures etc. And I would be open to do those things on a special agreement with you.

This is not a message to be published, as you can see. It is strictly personal, and I will keep waiting for your answer.

Again, thank you so much for your personal example and the attention that you can give to this message.

Welcome back to mother Earth and nice hat indeed. How come it wasn’t flying off? 🙂

A while back you wrote that you wished world leaders would experience space. Do you still believe that it would help matters on Earth? or would it make the space station unlivable? 🙂
Is Earth still a beautiful blue planet rotating about? When I was a kid in Iran, I used to listen to “Ground Control to Major Tom” by David Bowie. I wonder if you have ever listened to it.
Maybe it was the first human side of space travel before your blog came about (and he didn’t even go to space). Here are the lyrics:

Ground Control to Major Tom
Ground Control to Major Tom
Take your protein pills and put your helmet on

Ground Control to Major Tom
Commencing countdown, engines on
Check ignition and may God’s love be with you

Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One, Lift-off

This is Ground Control to Major Tom
You’ve really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now it’s time to leave the capsule if you dare

“This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I’m stepping through the door
And I’m floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today

For here
Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there’s nothing I can do

Though I’m past one hundred thousand miles
I’m feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much (she knows!)
Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit’s dead, there’s something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear….

“ am I floating round my tin can
Far above the Moon
Planet Earth is blue
And there’s nothing I can do.?

By the way, thanks for responding to my previous question. It must be hard to communicate with lots of people at the same time and ofcourse family obligations come first.

Khonoom Ansari,
Maybe one day when the time is right you will write about your Spiritual experiences in Space?I dont think you can go so far and not consider the origins of this universe.
I pondered over your arrival back to earth in the capsule and your`rebirth.`
Being born only leads to suffering and problems.It as if somehow or other we have to rise above the problems,attend to the the difficulties with action instead of thought.Action purifies,thought corrupts.
Hoshohmadi.

i was wondering, did you gain wieght and/or inches in space? atrophying takes time to combat. it must have been hard for those who were out there for months! how long did it take you to get earth legs again? and did you notice much difference in your body mass? and how long did it take to get back to “normal”?
love your site!

My heartfelt thanks to you for sharing your incredible experience with us. Your narration was not just like a mere compilation of words but like cries of the heart. It’s really nice to read your blog.

Anousheh, I really need your help in shaping up my career. A short of inro about me just in case u haven’t read my previous comments. I am working as a Telecom Software Engineer. I want to become an astronaut and I am wondering how to proceed from here. I am planning to take up my M.S. in Avionics. Can you plz. help me shape up my career.

It seems that this comment is a video comment and a flash-media clip is placed there. But, unfortunately for me, nothing is visible (I see a white gap under the title ‘Nice Hat’). On the other hand, non of the shared photos in ‘flickr’ website is accessible here. 😦 I think both happen due to firewall installed in out local ISP servers, which block access to them. If possible, please share these objects in the main homepage of the Prodea company so that we can have access to them. Thank you in advance… 🙂

Hi Anousheh.
I enjoyed reading you blog very much. You describe everything beautifully..! I told my mom about it and she’s been reading the persian translation of your blog, but she tells me it stops on the 28th. She’d very much appreciate it if you could continue with the translation as well.
Merci.

Dear Anousheh:
i’ve benn readding your blog and i think you’re a special person …talking about your hat i just coud not believe it…
is that an “aleph”? it look so much like one we have made here for our sinagogue! we call it the simbol of craetion… i relly would like to hear more about it. if you could!?

“Edgar Mitchell, the sixth astronaut to walk on the moon, and founder of the Institute of
Noetic Sciences, played a significant role in supporting the scientific investigation of
consciousness. The view he had of the Earth from space gave him deep insights into the
creative nature of consciousness in the universe:
In one moment I realized that this universe is intelligent. It is proceeding in a direction and we
have something to do with that direction. And that creative spirit, the creative intent that has
been the history of this planet, comes from within us, and it is out there—it is all the same…
Consciousness itself is what is fundamental and energy-matter is the product of consciousness…
If we change our heads about who we are—and can see ourselves as creative, eternal beings
creating physical experience, joined at that level of existence we call consciousness—then we
start to see and create this world that we live in quite differently.”

Hi Anousheh
Welcome back. I am so taken by you following one of your dreams as it lets us all know that we can do anything we put our minds to. Your space story is wonderful, but I am also impressed with the come to America and make successes of your lives as you and your husband did. I just wanted to thank you for that. I also wanted to know if I could interview you for surewoman.com. I am trying to find an email address for you and will try to contact you. Dawn

HI
WELLDONE
But there is a point here:You have been in iran up to 16.how u can not speak farsi.
My imagination is:making a world without any need to lying about ourselves origin.
I hope newer and more imagination after coming back from space for u.
cheers

This little video is nice, but your friends at this Blog’s “ground ops” put out the challange for someone to produce a film grab of you giving the Vulcan sign from your preflight activities. As I wrote, I searched greatly for such and was unable to find it. Considering your “INSIDE” connections with the NASA TV folks or our Russian friends, perhaps you can make a special request to obtain that image for all of us, including you and your family, to share and enjoy?

Dear Kamran Derakhshani,
Not exactly sure what happened to those comments… but happy to see you are still speaking freely here. (confession: the button for Mark as Spam is just to the right of the button for Approve This Comment. A few contributions to this discussion went the wrong direction, due to Ground Ops dyslexia.)

Dear Anousheh
You should forgive me for answering some people who still are not bright enough to get it.
TO #38 from iran and other people in USA and elsewhere who still talk about how Anousheh should have spent her money.
1)If you are so generous please go earn the money first then spend it as you like instead of telling her what to do with her own money.it is so easy to spend other people money.
2)If you like to see money spend on poor and other worthy cause such as education,health,…why do you ask her and not the Government of iran who gives 2 Billion$ every year outside of iran for very questionable causes.a country like iran which has second largest OIL RESERVES after saudi arabia and

It must have been a wonderful experience. Ah for $20M. I can’t imagine the vista from 200 miles up. So many questions I have.
1. At lift off, is there a lot of pitch/yaw? And does the force of acceleration pin you in your seat so it’s hard to move a muscle?
2. Can you see anything on ascent and reentry? , or are you too enclosed?
3. On reentry, is it just the fact of slowing speed that starts the pull of gravity?
4. Can you compare the technical aspects of Russian crafts(Soyuz and the return vessel), the shuttle and the space station. Are they similar? Are they more or less up to date with each other? Can you comment on the differences?
5. How were the facilities at Baikonur? Austere or otherwise? It seems so from TV coverage.

I wish I lived in Texas, so I could come see you on Nov. 2nd
Thank you, Gary

Damet garm! I have been keeping in touch with your life changes after George Mason. You might not remember me, but I graduated with Atousa and Amir. I vividly remember you and your nice family. You set a good example of hard work and courage for those who want to open their eyes and see the positive side of things. I remember your caring mom in her house in Fairfax where she always tried to keep the family close and happy by inviting your friends and show lot of love and affection. You come from a good background and that’s what is keeping you so humble. As you said it yourself, you come from a regular family and the big success is not changing you and I hope you can keep up with the right attitude and the right messages you are sending to everyone. Lot of young kids are looking up to you now. You set the right example for the next generation, especially Iranian females. My hat is off to you and I wish you continued success in life.

Anousheh – I find many similairities between your writings and those of Charles Lindberg’s “Spirit of St. Louis”….including his descriptions of those who didn’t believe in him before he went, the few who made his dream a reality, and those who wanted a piece of him after his flight. But his wonderful book drew such vivid pictures in my mind as a kid, it became a source of my life-long fascination with flight and then space. Your writings do the same for me, and millions of others. Ignore the negativity – in fact, filter it out and bathe in the positive love so many feel for you. And, please find someone to help you assemble all this into a book and expand on it. All the best to you – Jim Hawk

Hi dear Anousheh:
I’m really proud of you, and also I hope to see you more successful in the future.
I was at work when I read that you came back from the space, and you cannot believe that on that moment I was so happy and I was crying so bad.
I just want to tell you that you are always our brave sister.
Love leyla.

Flickr

All original content authored or expressed by Anousheh Ansari or Prodea Systems, Inc. (c) Prodea Systems, Inc., 2006. All rights reserved.
Please credit AnoushehAnsari.com for any original images or content you source from this website.
Links do not represent endorsements. No rights are reserved or claimed by Anousheh Ansari or Prodea Systems, Inc. to comments, works, suggested references or images not authored or expressed by Anousheh Ansari or Prodea Systems, Inc.